Jandd Mountain Wedge III
#1
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Jandd Mountain Wedge III
https://www.jandd.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=FMW3
...looks like a neat product. Basically it's a huge (7.5L) seatpack that has top and bottom stabilizers that suposedly eliminate the need for a rack.
Anyone out there try one of these? I've read a few positive reviews, but to me it looks like it would "wag" a bit on the climbs since there's no rack support.
I'm asking since my bike has eyelets (good for the attached bungee supports), but no seatstay attachment points for a rack. That, and you get the benefit of saving the weight of the rack.
If anyone's used this on a brevet/long ride and has an opinion, I'd appreciate your insight.
Thanks!
...looks like a neat product. Basically it's a huge (7.5L) seatpack that has top and bottom stabilizers that suposedly eliminate the need for a rack.
Anyone out there try one of these? I've read a few positive reviews, but to me it looks like it would "wag" a bit on the climbs since there's no rack support.
I'm asking since my bike has eyelets (good for the attached bungee supports), but no seatstay attachment points for a rack. That, and you get the benefit of saving the weight of the rack.
If anyone's used this on a brevet/long ride and has an opinion, I'd appreciate your insight.
Thanks!
#2
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I have used it quite a lot this past season. It is really quite lightweight and seems to be about the same size as a carradice junior. I don't use the bungee cords, as one snapped. It wiggles a little without them but not with them. Riding without the straps doesn't bother me, at all. The expansion is helpful, and I've ridden them on several double centuries and a 400k Brevet. I like mine, plus it isn't too expensive.
#3
The Left Coast, USA
The bungee system is a disaster, thanks to cheap plastic mounts and metal hooks. The attachment straps are pretty thin, flimsy. Otherwise, perfect size and fit for replacing a big rack mounted top bag. If you work on it a little to bring the attachment quality and reliability up a notch, it's a great bag design and fairly aero.
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https://www.jandd.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=FMW3
...looks like a neat product. Basically it's a huge (7.5L) seatpack that has top and bottom stabilizers that suposedly eliminate the need for a rack.
Anyone out there try one of these? I've read a few positive reviews, but to me it looks like it would "wag" a bit on the climbs since there's no rack support.
I'm asking since my bike has eyelets (good for the attached bungee supports), but no seatstay attachment points for a rack. That, and you get the benefit of saving the weight of the rack.
If anyone's used this on a brevet/long ride and has an opinion, I'd appreciate your insight.
Thanks!
...looks like a neat product. Basically it's a huge (7.5L) seatpack that has top and bottom stabilizers that suposedly eliminate the need for a rack.
Anyone out there try one of these? I've read a few positive reviews, but to me it looks like it would "wag" a bit on the climbs since there's no rack support.
I'm asking since my bike has eyelets (good for the attached bungee supports), but no seatstay attachment points for a rack. That, and you get the benefit of saving the weight of the rack.
If anyone's used this on a brevet/long ride and has an opinion, I'd appreciate your insight.
Thanks!
It is large enough to carry all my tools, full set of rain gear, packs of maltodextrin/fructose mix, and a rolled up spare tire.
I don't use the zipper extension, because if you do, you need to use the bungees, (else you get serious wagging), and I don't have eyelets to hook them.
Big thumbs up;
I don't know of any alternative that could carry as much.
#5
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You gotta have long enough legs to keep it off your rear wheel. 30" inseam does not work. I went to a Detours rack pack, which just barely works for my saddle height.
#6
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Have one on my Roubaix. Would rather have a real (not seatpost) rack, but the Roubaix won't take it. The Wedge III is the next best thing. Great capacity for a seat bag, and yet doesn't interfere with my ride. I don't use the bungees. It might wiggle, but less than my butt, so I don't notice.
Had I not found the Wedge III, I might have found a new bike instead. Now I'm just looking for another bike.
OP: Since I'd rather have a rack, and you already have lower eyelets, I'd find a way to attach the rack to the seatstays or the brake bolt.
Had I not found the Wedge III, I might have found a new bike instead. Now I'm just looking for another bike.
OP: Since I'd rather have a rack, and you already have lower eyelets, I'd find a way to attach the rack to the seatstays or the brake bolt.
#7
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After spending tons of time trying to figure out the best set up for my bike I finally settled on the Jandd Mountain wedge III. I give the product a huge thumbs up! I did have to to mod it slightly to make it work perfectly, I took the metal hooks off and just zipped tied the plastic fasteners right to the frame. Thing works like a dream now.
The bag also carries everything I need for my brevets, I tend to travel pretty light though. Overall I would also recomend this bag especially if your bike can't take a rack.
The bag also carries everything I need for my brevets, I tend to travel pretty light though. Overall I would also recomend this bag especially if your bike can't take a rack.
#10
succumbs to errata
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I'm surprised bmike hasn't chimed in here as I believe he recently picked up something nice from Epic Designs. (I saw a picture of his bike with one of their seatbags somewhere) I have the Jandd MW III and haven't been too happy with it. It flops around too much and I find the bungy-things to be a bit of a hack. I have one of these on order.
[edit]
Thought so: bmike's bike.
[edit]
Thought so: bmike's bike.
#11
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ears ringing.
yup. i went with the epic designs bag.
i've used a seatpost rack, ortlieb saddle packs (large / medium) (still use em, actually), carradice, rear rack and panniers, front rack with acorn boxy rando bag, ortlieb h-bar bag, acorn saddle bag, carradice barley, carradice sqr tour, etc. etc. i use a small jandd pack for short road rides...
here's my long comment to a question about it on my blog...
yup. i went with the epic designs bag.
i've used a seatpost rack, ortlieb saddle packs (large / medium) (still use em, actually), carradice, rear rack and panniers, front rack with acorn boxy rando bag, ortlieb h-bar bag, acorn saddle bag, carradice barley, carradice sqr tour, etc. etc. i use a small jandd pack for short road rides...
here's my long comment to a question about it on my blog...
orget my previous comment, here it is. I’ll post a full up review and compare contrast as a full post if I get the time… I’m a bag *****…
Mainly style issues – as anything I’ve used ‘works’ to carry stuff. And by style I mean in the color / looks department as well as the approach – mounting, compressing, supporting – side of things.
The Acorn saddlepack that I used was the smallish / medium version. Leather trim, buckles, zippers, and leather pulls and bits for mounting a blinky. Transported from bike to bike easily but required bag loops, flopped around a bit when loaded, regardless of how I cinched it down.
The Acorn Boxy Rando bag was built to high quality, with the same leather bits and trim and metal hooks and fasteners. Map case on top that was an odd size (8.5 x 11 didn’t quite fit folded in half) – and it leaked around the seams. Cotton duck. Stabilizer chords, etc. The Acorn front bag required a rack (I was using the Nitto Mark’s) and I had to either use a decaleur or the stabilizers to the hoods. Easy access on the go to pretty much the whole bag. Food in the back small pockets, larger items in the main pouch. ID, wallet, etc. in the front flap. Still found myself stopping, esp. when moving slow or being tired to do any major bag searches / gear changes.
The Acorn’s are overall heavier per unit of volume that you can carry – and the front bag doesn’t swap from bike to bike easily – you have to move racks and possibly lights (I had my eDeluxe mounted on the rack)… add in the rack weight and it adds considerably to unbalanced equation of volume carried to weight of pack.*
*Note – I’m not a weight weenie (I do look in the mirror every morning) – but on a Fleche, 300k or climby 200k all that stuff adds up – and I’ve been trying to streamline and lighten my load since about mid summer… it all adds up and plays into the bigger picture. Especially now that I’ve started to pair down my kit and am pressing to do some bikepacking style fast touring next year. I’m no racer, and folks would still scoff at what I end up carrying – but if I have the room I tend to fill it up. I’d load up the Acorn front bag… regardless. And the rear would be fine for most riding. Could stuff a jacket in there when needed, along with tools, some calories, phone, camera, etc.
Materials: Buckles and leather and such certainly fit the traditional look of the Carradice and Acorn bags (and Ostrich and VO) – but in the rain and the cold are a PITA. A 24 hour Fleche, most in the rain and cold turned me off to this (along with plenty of training rides in the wet / snow / cold). While the front bag is easy to flip open – anytime I wanted into the rear (and this goes for plenty of winter riding with the Carradice) you’d be removing gloves, fiddling with buckles and straps, etc… I’m just done with that for now… I like the snap closures of the plastic on the Epics. Roll things tight, snap em closed, pull the compression straps. Simple. Elegant. Pack it stuffed full… or half empty and you can still snug it up. The Carradice and Acorn’s hold their shape regardless of what is in them, and unless on a Bagman rack they tend to flop around a bit when stuffed (and stuff flops around in them when not so stuffed). While I liked the easy access pockets on the Barley (and still have a Barley and Camper Longflap to use if I want) they don’t keep things even remotely dry unless they are packed tight – otherwise the canvas kind of keeps its own shape. I did get remotely good at opening and closing the side pockets while on the go… and could work the buckles sans gloves while moving… but…
Leather – the black and brown leather on the Acorn’s (and white and black of the Carradice) certainly look sharp. But I somehow always felt I was riding a fully dressed Harley around. Perhaps this is PTSD from my DNF 400k that happened during Laconia bike week where I was passed by hundreds of ‘loud pipes save lives’ (complete with tassels, trim, skulls and such) bikes on a brevet… but the fashionista in me just always felt off about the leather and canvas stuff strapped all over my Ti IF. Pockets and doodads and leather zipper pulls with leather trim and on and on… too much for me. Functional, yes, for sure. But combined with issues above and it just stopped working for me. Aside from my saddle – I don’t think I need leather elsewhere (although I am eyeing a pair of ‘driving’ gloves for riding… something thin but grippy)
Front weight – with the previous Acorn setup most of the gear weight went into the front – this is on top of rack + bag weight. It was stable enought. I had bombed descents at 38 mph no hands on rough surfaces snapping pics with no shimmy or a hint of wobble… slow handling suffered for sure… but it was all workable. But I always felt the weight up there – even psychologically when the bag was empty everything felt slow and heavy… I’d guess that both Epic systems weigh as much as the Acorn saddle pack alone (don’t quote me, I’d have to weigh it and look it up) – but for sure the rear offers 3x the capacity with plenty of options for how you trim it up or down.
I’m a fan of ‘modern’ materials for bags and such, and I mainly stick to wool for clothing. I’ll write more after I get some use time with the new gear … but aside from the generous size (I might have to have Eric make me a small h-bar pack sans harness system (sort of like a cape roll) and a 1/2 sized seat bag – I think this setup will be a winner. Lots of room in the rear to turn the bike into a self supported fast (relative to me turning the pedals) touring / rando / dirt road exploring machine. I’m fairly certain with an upgraded sleeping bag or quilt I’ll get my sleep system (hammock, bag, insulating layers) in the harness on the bars and can use the rear for tools (packed tight to the saddle) and clothing and layers packed as we move out from the post. I also have a Jandd frame pack to add to the mix if needed.
Bags I’ve used:
Ortlieb Medium and Large seat pack: waterproof, great bags, horrible mounting mechanism that doesn’t work with Brooks saddles (although I can get it to work with the Swallow (long rails) – but it doesn’t sit like it should.
Carradice SQR Tour – excellent bag, cotton duck, huge! The mounting block weighs more than my new bags… similar capacity in a boxier format to the Epic tailbag
Ortlieb h-bar bag – great bag, waterproof, great map case. Love it… but it mounts high on the bars and doesn’t expand very well. It also holds it shape, so its always boxy regardless of how full it is. Hard to move from bike to bike. Great for exploring and such. I still have it and it will probably adorn my wife’s Salsa come spring.
Ortlieb panniers – I had a full kit – front and rear of the bikepacker plus. Love them. Traded off the smalls to a frend and the large rears ride on the wife’s Salsa. If I were a pannier using world tourist – these would be the bags to use.
Carradice Barley traditional – like the size and was pleased with the mounting. Used a bagman for it on the IF for brevets and fully loaded. Sans bagman on the fixed gear for around town. Tired of the buckles… sold it this summer.
Carradice Barley Super C design – just picked one up recently. Used it for a brevet and long summer ride. Snap clips work well, bag is shaped a bit differently than their traditional bags – the top has a shape / seams to it that make it odd to close up unless stuffed – and it seems harder to tuck things under that big flap on the traditional version. I’ll probably keep this around for the FG.
Carradice Camper Long Flap – HUGE bag. Buckles and leather as noted prior. Have a bagman expedition for it. Works as described. Can swallow enough gear to camp with. Can swallow a ton of groceries…. its in the stable but rarely gets used…
Acorn saddlebag – noted above
Acorn boxy rando bag – noted above
Each piece offers something to various uses… and I guess if I were to design something (sketched out plenty of ideas… but I’m not a sewing man) it would be a cross between the Carradice SQR Tour and the Ortlieb seat packs. I think the Epic does this… and some time will tell.
Mainly style issues – as anything I’ve used ‘works’ to carry stuff. And by style I mean in the color / looks department as well as the approach – mounting, compressing, supporting – side of things.
The Acorn saddlepack that I used was the smallish / medium version. Leather trim, buckles, zippers, and leather pulls and bits for mounting a blinky. Transported from bike to bike easily but required bag loops, flopped around a bit when loaded, regardless of how I cinched it down.
The Acorn Boxy Rando bag was built to high quality, with the same leather bits and trim and metal hooks and fasteners. Map case on top that was an odd size (8.5 x 11 didn’t quite fit folded in half) – and it leaked around the seams. Cotton duck. Stabilizer chords, etc. The Acorn front bag required a rack (I was using the Nitto Mark’s) and I had to either use a decaleur or the stabilizers to the hoods. Easy access on the go to pretty much the whole bag. Food in the back small pockets, larger items in the main pouch. ID, wallet, etc. in the front flap. Still found myself stopping, esp. when moving slow or being tired to do any major bag searches / gear changes.
The Acorn’s are overall heavier per unit of volume that you can carry – and the front bag doesn’t swap from bike to bike easily – you have to move racks and possibly lights (I had my eDeluxe mounted on the rack)… add in the rack weight and it adds considerably to unbalanced equation of volume carried to weight of pack.*
*Note – I’m not a weight weenie (I do look in the mirror every morning) – but on a Fleche, 300k or climby 200k all that stuff adds up – and I’ve been trying to streamline and lighten my load since about mid summer… it all adds up and plays into the bigger picture. Especially now that I’ve started to pair down my kit and am pressing to do some bikepacking style fast touring next year. I’m no racer, and folks would still scoff at what I end up carrying – but if I have the room I tend to fill it up. I’d load up the Acorn front bag… regardless. And the rear would be fine for most riding. Could stuff a jacket in there when needed, along with tools, some calories, phone, camera, etc.
Materials: Buckles and leather and such certainly fit the traditional look of the Carradice and Acorn bags (and Ostrich and VO) – but in the rain and the cold are a PITA. A 24 hour Fleche, most in the rain and cold turned me off to this (along with plenty of training rides in the wet / snow / cold). While the front bag is easy to flip open – anytime I wanted into the rear (and this goes for plenty of winter riding with the Carradice) you’d be removing gloves, fiddling with buckles and straps, etc… I’m just done with that for now… I like the snap closures of the plastic on the Epics. Roll things tight, snap em closed, pull the compression straps. Simple. Elegant. Pack it stuffed full… or half empty and you can still snug it up. The Carradice and Acorn’s hold their shape regardless of what is in them, and unless on a Bagman rack they tend to flop around a bit when stuffed (and stuff flops around in them when not so stuffed). While I liked the easy access pockets on the Barley (and still have a Barley and Camper Longflap to use if I want) they don’t keep things even remotely dry unless they are packed tight – otherwise the canvas kind of keeps its own shape. I did get remotely good at opening and closing the side pockets while on the go… and could work the buckles sans gloves while moving… but…
Leather – the black and brown leather on the Acorn’s (and white and black of the Carradice) certainly look sharp. But I somehow always felt I was riding a fully dressed Harley around. Perhaps this is PTSD from my DNF 400k that happened during Laconia bike week where I was passed by hundreds of ‘loud pipes save lives’ (complete with tassels, trim, skulls and such) bikes on a brevet… but the fashionista in me just always felt off about the leather and canvas stuff strapped all over my Ti IF. Pockets and doodads and leather zipper pulls with leather trim and on and on… too much for me. Functional, yes, for sure. But combined with issues above and it just stopped working for me. Aside from my saddle – I don’t think I need leather elsewhere (although I am eyeing a pair of ‘driving’ gloves for riding… something thin but grippy)
Front weight – with the previous Acorn setup most of the gear weight went into the front – this is on top of rack + bag weight. It was stable enought. I had bombed descents at 38 mph no hands on rough surfaces snapping pics with no shimmy or a hint of wobble… slow handling suffered for sure… but it was all workable. But I always felt the weight up there – even psychologically when the bag was empty everything felt slow and heavy… I’d guess that both Epic systems weigh as much as the Acorn saddle pack alone (don’t quote me, I’d have to weigh it and look it up) – but for sure the rear offers 3x the capacity with plenty of options for how you trim it up or down.
I’m a fan of ‘modern’ materials for bags and such, and I mainly stick to wool for clothing. I’ll write more after I get some use time with the new gear … but aside from the generous size (I might have to have Eric make me a small h-bar pack sans harness system (sort of like a cape roll) and a 1/2 sized seat bag – I think this setup will be a winner. Lots of room in the rear to turn the bike into a self supported fast (relative to me turning the pedals) touring / rando / dirt road exploring machine. I’m fairly certain with an upgraded sleeping bag or quilt I’ll get my sleep system (hammock, bag, insulating layers) in the harness on the bars and can use the rear for tools (packed tight to the saddle) and clothing and layers packed as we move out from the post. I also have a Jandd frame pack to add to the mix if needed.
Bags I’ve used:
Ortlieb Medium and Large seat pack: waterproof, great bags, horrible mounting mechanism that doesn’t work with Brooks saddles (although I can get it to work with the Swallow (long rails) – but it doesn’t sit like it should.
Carradice SQR Tour – excellent bag, cotton duck, huge! The mounting block weighs more than my new bags… similar capacity in a boxier format to the Epic tailbag
Ortlieb h-bar bag – great bag, waterproof, great map case. Love it… but it mounts high on the bars and doesn’t expand very well. It also holds it shape, so its always boxy regardless of how full it is. Hard to move from bike to bike. Great for exploring and such. I still have it and it will probably adorn my wife’s Salsa come spring.
Ortlieb panniers – I had a full kit – front and rear of the bikepacker plus. Love them. Traded off the smalls to a frend and the large rears ride on the wife’s Salsa. If I were a pannier using world tourist – these would be the bags to use.
Carradice Barley traditional – like the size and was pleased with the mounting. Used a bagman for it on the IF for brevets and fully loaded. Sans bagman on the fixed gear for around town. Tired of the buckles… sold it this summer.
Carradice Barley Super C design – just picked one up recently. Used it for a brevet and long summer ride. Snap clips work well, bag is shaped a bit differently than their traditional bags – the top has a shape / seams to it that make it odd to close up unless stuffed – and it seems harder to tuck things under that big flap on the traditional version. I’ll probably keep this around for the FG.
Carradice Camper Long Flap – HUGE bag. Buckles and leather as noted prior. Have a bagman expedition for it. Works as described. Can swallow enough gear to camp with. Can swallow a ton of groceries…. its in the stable but rarely gets used…
Acorn saddlebag – noted above
Acorn boxy rando bag – noted above
Each piece offers something to various uses… and I guess if I were to design something (sketched out plenty of ideas… but I’m not a sewing man) it would be a cross between the Carradice SQR Tour and the Ortlieb seat packs. I think the Epic does this… and some time will tell.
__________________
So long. Been nice knowing you BF.... to all the friends I've made here and in real life... its been great. But this place needs an enema.
So long. Been nice knowing you BF.... to all the friends I've made here and in real life... its been great. But this place needs an enema.
#12
Bye Bye
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if you need some upper eyelets, check this out:
__________________
So long. Been nice knowing you BF.... to all the friends I've made here and in real life... its been great. But this place needs an enema.
So long. Been nice knowing you BF.... to all the friends I've made here and in real life... its been great. But this place needs an enema.
#13
Likes to Ride Far
Dimension also makes one of those (get it from your LBS), also sometimes branded as Electra:
#14
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This is a 3 year old thread but still very useful on the Jandd Mountain Wedge III. I love Jandd products so I'm thinking of getting one of these bags. Jandd products, in my experience, are well made and the company stands behind their product. I like the idea of a larger bike as the weather begins to get colder for your xtra gear.
#15
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This is a 3 year old thread but still very useful on the Jandd Mountain Wedge III. I love Jandd products so I'm thinking of getting one of these bags. Jandd products, in my experience, are well made and the company stands behind their product. I like the idea of a larger bike as the weather begins to get colder for your xtra gear.